Cubs News: Williams on offensive efficiency, chemistry with DJ Moore |
CHICAGO - Chicago’s 36-10 win against the Carolina Panthers is what fans expected to see from the Bears offense all season. Rookie quarterback Caleb Williams had 304 passing yards and 34 rushing yards. He nearly had his first rushing touchdown, but a clipping penalty nullified it.
Nonetheless, he was proud to get another team win and see the running game be efficient once again. “When you’re able to be efficient down the field, obviously, we had (tight end) Cole (Kmet) down the sideline, a couple of screens and playing well with each other of short passes, good runs, check downs, and then obviously, opening it up and being able to hit a couple of deep balls,” Williams said. “I think it one, limits what defenses can do in a sense of when you’re hitting on different things, the defense is just trying to scramble and trying to figure it out and when you’re being consistent how we were today with the run game and obviously with the passing game and (hitting) some explosive plays, it does good for the whole football team. It keeps us on the football field, being efficient, and then when you have those big plays, the momentum swings. It’s (great) for the football team and having those momentum swings and being able to keep it. With the team that we have and defense, special teams, and offense, us playing together and playing like that, you’re going to win a lot of games.” In Chicago’s win against the Los Angeles Rams, the chemistry between wide receiver DJ Moore and Williams started to get going with Moore’s first touchdown of the season. That chemistry was on another level against the Panthers as Moore was targeted eight times, had five receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns. “DJ’s such a special player,” Williams said. “Having a special player like that on your team, you obviously want to give him the ball. Let him just be DJ and be special. So, it felt really good. We were super excited. We get to the sideline, we (were) both like, ‘Finally’ (that) we were able to hit something like that.” Williams has the perfect mindset for an NFL quarterback. Despite how the offense looked in their season-opening victory against the Tennessee Titans and the losses against the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts, he knew they were not far from turning things around on offense. But even after these past two wins, Williams knows that Chicago’s offense still needs to improve. “The games even that we lost, we were right there. Most of them were just small details throughout the game that we were missing and I think after those losses and even after this week and the week before, these wins, us understanding, the leaders understanding, we got a lot of room to get better. We got a lot of things that we need to fix,” Williams said. “The personality of the team is going to continue to grow. But we’re excited. We understand we got to keep growing and keep progressing. But, definitely excited about being 3-2.” He is also a player who does not care about his personal stats as long as the team wins. However, the numbers are unusual for a Bears rookie quarterback. In the win against the Panthers, Williams became the first rookie quarterback in franchise history to have multiple games of 300 or more passing yards. In addition, his 1,094 passing yards in the first five games are the most by a Bears rookie quarterback in Bears history. Now, Williams will have another milestone in his career - his first international game. On Sun. Oct. 13 (8:30 a.m. / NFL Network), Williams and the Chicago Bears will face the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
